After forcing the UFC 90 main event into a third round, Cote dropped to the mat and was unable to continue after injuring his knee 39 seconds into the round.

It was an unfortunate and bizarre ending to Saturday’s “UFC 90: Silva vs. Cote” event, which took place at a sold-out Allstate Arena in Rosemont near Chicago in the UFC’s first-ever trip to Illinois.

The fight was a bit strange from the get-go. Silva, largely considered the world’s top pound-for-pound fighter, was sometimes slow to engage. He was unusually patient, often retreated after Cote threw punches, and his feet and hand movement sometimes bordered on comical. He did damage when he struck, but the exchanges interrupted extended stretches of inaction.

Prior to the fight with Cote, Silva had never been taken into the third round during a UFC fight. However, it’d be a short round. While taking a high hop before shooting in, Cote’s knee slightly buckled, and he immediately hit the canvas while securing the injured leg.

“It was an old injury,” Cote said. “I’m so sorry guys. It was a great fight before. … I was the only guy to go into the third round with Silva, so I was doing a good job.”

The ending caused a chorus of boos from the Allstate Arena crowd, one that proved restless throughout the night. Just about any stretch of inactivity was met with boos, and the Silva-Cote fight got the loudest of the night. Silva, though, felt it was unwarranted.

“He should be applauded, and I’ll be back here to put on another show for everyone,” Silva said through translator and manager Ed Soares.

Although Alves ultimately settled for a unanimous-decision victory (30-27, 29-28, 30-27), he had Koscheck — who filled in for an injured Diego Sanchez on just two weeks’ notice — in trouble throughout the fight. Koscheck was dropped in the first with a short left, he was continually knocked off balance with stinging leg kicks, and an onslaught of strikes in the third round had Koscheck staggered and in survival mode.

Despite Alves’ success, though, Koscheck showed signs of life throughout the fight. His ever-improving stand-up game and powerful right hand connected often, but Alves survived and was never in any real trouble.

“He gave me a really hard time,” Alves said.

However, Koscheck, a former NCAA Division I national wrestling champion, simply couldn’t take down his opponent. Alves successfully sprawled out of every takedown attempt and usually punished his opponent for trying.

The victory — Alves’ seventh straight in the UFC (one shy of the organization’s record) — has the 25-year-old wanting one thing.

“I would love to fight for the title,” said Alves, who requested a title shot after his victory over Hughes in June. “Mr. Dana White, I’m still a good boy, so please hook me up.”

Coming into UFC 90, a growing contingent of MMA fans wondered why Fabricio Werdum, who previously had been all but promised a shot at the heavyweight belt, was no longer a part of the UFC’s title talk.

The Brazilian fighter, at one time a 10-to-1 underdog heading into the fight, scored one of the year’s biggest upsets and most brutal uppercut knockouts with an 81-second TKO of Werdum.

Undeterred by his first fight under the bright lights of the UFC, dos Santos connected flush with a right uppercut that sent Werdum to his knees. Werdum was down for good, but dos Santos continued with a burst of punches before the referee halted the bout.

For dos Santos, it was seventh first-round stoppage in seven career victories.

In a key lightweight bout, veteran experience won out over young potential as Sean Sherk (33-3-1 MMA, 7-3 UFC) secured a close but unanimous decision victory over Tyson Griffin (12-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC).

Sherk, fighting for the first time since his title loss to B.J. Penn in May, had Griffin in trouble early after securing the Xtreme Couture fighter’s back and working for a rear-naked choke. Griffin, though, carried Sherk to his corner to receive instruction from Randy Couture and eventually broke free of the hold.

It was the only real trouble Griffin, 24, was ever in, though the fighters traded more than a few solid blows through the three-round fight. In fact, after a few successful takedown attempts in the first, Sherk was content to keep the fight standing for the remainder of the bout. Griffin connected on a few bursts of strikes, but Sherk scored more frequently and with better accuracy thanks to an effective jab, quick knees and an array of combinations.

“I was confident I won the fight,” Sherk said.

The judges agreed and awarded the 35-year-old the fight with winning scores of 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28.

After the bout, Sherk, who was stripped of the title after a failed drug test in 2007, was perfectly clear of his next goal.

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